National News

Better Together video 'insulting'

Female nationalists have criticised an "insulting" Better Together campaign video which they claim depicts Scottish women as "daft ditherers" who do not understand enough about the independence referendum.

The YouTube video features an actress voicing concerns about independence which Better Together say was drawn from the verbatim comments of women in focus groups and doorstep canvassing.

Better Together urges women to vote No not only for "the love of our country" but for "the love of our families".

But Women For Independence say "the implication that a No vote is the only choice a mother should be making for her children is insulting".

A spokeswoman said: "We think it's disappointing that Better Together decided to portray Scotland's women in this way.

"The narrative suggests that women who are still making up their minds how to vote don't understand enough about the issues to arrive at an informed decision. That is not our experience.

"Women for Independence have spent the last two years listening to women, discussing what matters to them. They are thoughtful, intelligent and articulate.

"The polls show that when they do get helpful information they understand that this is our one opportunity to change their lives, and all our lives, for the better. That's why more and more are moving to voting Yes."

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Kirsty Strickland, first-time mother to six-month-old Orla, has said: "The Better Together referendum broadcast was an absolute embarrassment.

"It portrayed women voters as daft ditherers who don't understand the magnitude of the decision they have to make.

"The implication that a No vote is the only choice a mother should be making for her children is insulting."

Launching the video yesterday, Better Together campaign director Blair McDougall said: "The key factor for people isn't the love of our country - as both Yes and No voters love Scotland. The key factor is the love of our families."

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He added: "The words spoken in the film are taken verbatim from conversations on doorsteps with undecided women voters and from the opinion of women in dozens of focus groups around the country.

"With so many unanswered questions, more and more of us are coming to the decision that it is just too big a risk to take with our kids' future."

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Comments (1)

Unfortunately, patriarchal artificially-created gender roles seem to be part and parcel of most nationalist thought. Take the NSDAP's 'kinder, kuche, kirche' outlook and policies, for instance. Nationalism has been a dead ideology for several decades now. Born in the early 19th century - partly as a reaction to the more radical elements thrown up by the French revolution - it was largely discredited post-1945 following WWII and the holocaust. Nationalism is redundant in a world that is getting ever smaller because of the possibility of international travel, co-opreation, migration and the internet. Only a fool fails to recognise that planet earth is now a global village and there will be no going back to the 'old days' despite any amount of knee-jerk, panic reactionary philosophies rooted in a misplaced nostalgia for a past that never was.

Unfortunately, patriarchal artificially-created gender roles seem to be part and parcel of most nationalist thought. Take the NSDAP's 'kinder, kuche, kirche' outlook and policies, for instance. Nationalism has been a dead ideology for several decades now. Born in the early 19th century - partly as a reaction to the more radical elements thrown up by the French revolution - it was largely discredited post-1945 following WWII and the holocaust. Nationalism is redundant in a world that is getting ever smaller because of the possibility of international travel, co-opreation, migration and the internet. Only a fool fails to recognise that planet earth is now a global village and there will be no going back to the 'old days' despite any amount of knee-jerk, panic reactionary philosophies rooted in a misplaced nostalgia for a past that never was.Katie Re-Registered

Unfortunately, patriarchal artificially-created gender roles seem to be part and parcel of most nationalist thought. Take the NSDAP's 'kinder, kuche, kirche' outlook and policies, for instance. Nationalism has been a dead ideology for several decades now. Born in the early 19th century - partly as a reaction to the more radical elements thrown up by the French revolution - it was largely discredited post-1945 following WWII and the holocaust. Nationalism is redundant in a world that is getting ever smaller because of the possibility of international travel, co-opreation, migration and the internet. Only a fool fails to recognise that planet earth is now a global village and there will be no going back to the 'old days' despite any amount of knee-jerk, panic reactionary philosophies rooted in a misplaced nostalgia for a past that never was.

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